John Pollard is a Principal Research Fellow, Vice President and Head of Biological Sciences at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. John holds a degree in Chemistry with PhD and Post-­Doctoral studies in a variety of Bio-Organic and Biochemical fields. During his near 20-year tenure at Vertex, John has held many senior positions including Department Head, with responsibility for over 50 scientists covering multiple disciplines such as structural biology, biochemistry, cell and animal pharmacology. John has also served as global research lead for the oncology portfolio and has extensive experience leading numerous oncology research and development projects from target validation through lead optimization to Ph2 proof-of-concept. In this role, John has worked across diverse cancer biologies including cell cycle, DNA damage repair, metabolism, survival and immunooncology. John has led numerous collaborations with academia and the pharmaceutical industry, has presented at many international meetings and has published over 30 academic papers.